Injury could end tour for Sidebottom

Tuesday 22 January 2008 00:11 BST

England are awaiting the results of a further scan on Ryan Sidebottom's side strain to determine whether it has brought a premature end to his tour of India.

The 30-year-old left-arm seamer is yet to feature in a game since England arrived in India nearly three weeks ago after sustaining Achilles problems during the Stanford Series in Antigua. He has since developed the injury to his side, which was scanned for the second time in Bangalore on Saturday.

"It's an injury to his side so we're looking to see if there's a tear there and if there is we'll have to decide how long that takes," said coach Peter Moores.

Moores said if it was not a tear then Sidebottom would still be unavailable for Sunday's fourth one-day match against the hosts, and could be struggling for the fifth and sixth games.

He added: "But if it is a tear that could put him out for the rest of the tour."

Sidebottom bowled just two overs in Antigua, when he sustained the Achilles problems.

He was selected for the one-day and Test squads in India with England believing a prolonged rest would cure him, but the latest setback could extend his time on the injured list.

Moores confirmed: "He's had it for a while. He bowled a short spell and got a little pain in his side and it's been there ever since. We got one scan done but the pictures weren't very good and with the other scan yesterday, the pictures were much better so we're expecting a pretty clear diagnosis."

England have delayed any decision on a possible replacement until they receive those results, but Moores plans talks with academy director David Parsons later today once he arrives in Bangalore with the England Performance Programme squad.

If Sidebottom is not given a positive prognosis, there are several players in the Performance squad who might be recalled including Tim Bresnan, Sajid Mahmood and Liam Plunkett.